Extenders for a Safari

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I have a EF 70-300mm F4 - 5.6 IS USM Lens with my 40D, this one:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-70-300mm-f-4-5.6-IS-USM-Lens-Review.aspx

I'm heading off on a safari to Tanzania next month and I'm wondering if this will be long enough for general animal shots. I was thinking I would be better off with a 400mm.

The best option I guess would be this one:
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
but the cost would be £1,150 - £1,400, which given the cost of the safari would be a stretch.

I'm confused about teleconvertors and extenders. Will the Canon 1.4x or 2x extenders work on my current lens and still allow autofocus?

The 1.4 would give me a focal length of 420mm

Given the crop sensor this would take me from 480mm to a 672mm equivalent full frame lens?

Also would the Tamron ones work or be manual focus only?
 
I believe it is fine to use with any lens.
The x1.4 will lose one stop, but will still auto focus.
The x2 will lose auto focus all together.

I have been thinking about it myself, as i intend to go on safari in a couple of years.
I hope by then to have a 400 f5.6 and a 1.4tc.
 
I don't think its supported, L lenses only I think
 
I can't say for sure. It's the first time i've heard it suggested that they will only work with L lenses.
I don't see why that would be the case, i can't think of any drastic differences in their design. I may well be wrong. :)
 
The canon TC's will only work on the L series lenses.

1.4x TC you lose 1 f-stop of light
2x TC you lose 2 f-stops of light

f-stops of light are f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 etc (so f4 - f5.6 is a single f-stop)

Your 40D will only autofocus upto f5.6 with a lens and TC combination, so even using a TC with the 100-400mm would mean that you would only be able to manual focus.

Your 70-300mm f4-5.6 might work with a sigma TC, wouldn't really recommend it, the lens would be very slow.

Another idea, is hire a lens. Have a look at www.lensesforhire.co.uk and hire a lens for the holiday (I'm sure they allow this), speak to Stewart, or any of the guy's there, they're very helpful. A canon 100-400mm starts around £64 for a 7 day hire (of course it might be slightly more as you're taking it out of country) Just a suggestion, rather than spending alot of money

Personally I would be looking at 2 lenses, a 70-200mm for close up shots, but having been on Safari in SA, you'll need a long zoom/prime as well. Perhaps a sigma 150-500mm or a canon 300mm f2.8 and both TC's (as they work very we on the canon prime lens)

Peter
 
Ahh well there you go, learn something new everyday.
I did say not to listen to me. :lol:
 
I've got the 1.4ex and a friend of mine has got the same 70-300 as you. We tried to see if it would work with his lens and it doesn't fit. The back element in the L lenses are recessed to allow the converter to fit. The 70-300 isn't.

Mark
 
Ahh gotcha. I need to pay more attention to my lenses.

Just a curious one, regarding stacking tc's, if the op doesn't mind. How does the combined magnification work?

For example, using a 200mm lens with both a 1.4x and 2x tc together.

Would it be a total magnification of 3.4x, giving a focal length of 200 x 3.4 = 680mm.

Or, is it as would make sense to me. The focal length being magnified once, and then again by the second tc. So, 200 x 1.4 = 280 x 2 = 560mm.
 
As said, the extenders will only work on L-Series bodies, but not all L series.

If you're looking at a Sigma TC then this list may be useful if combining with Sigma lenses - http://www.sigmaphoto.com/sigma-lens-chart

A list that shows all the lenses compatible with TC's is available on WEX's site - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/home/default.aspx?/teleconverter.html

Why not look at hiring a lens? Lensesforhire (StewartR on here) gets very good reviews and you can also hire TCs from him at a reduced rate when hiring a lens.

DB
 
Also forgot to mention, say you have a 300mm f4, add a 1.4x TC so it will still autofocus on your camera body, the autofocus speed would be significantly hit and the lens more prone to hunting (searching for focus). Image quality isn't really effected

A 2x TC would hit autofocus again if your camera allows it (only 1D series camera's will autofocus above f5.6, central focus point upto f8) and image quality would be hit as well.
 
Regardless of what works, fits, stacks or doesn't, the only extender combo that gives results that you'll be happy with is a 1.4x extender on an L-lens.

All 2x extenders are emergency use only and non-L glass only accepts third-party extenders with a significant loss of quality. Stacking extenders.. well I tried it once. It wasn't even funny...

Buy or hire the 100-400, it's the best lens to have on a safari :)
 
I think I'm going to stick with my existing lens for this trip as reading some other threads it seems like this is probably enough for most of the trip/animals.
 
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